Here’s proof that pediatric dentistry attracts “special” people – the staff of Teays Valley Pediatric Dentistry and Huntington Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics getting it on and making the right kind of viral video, complete with outtakes. It’s got humor, it’s got sexy, it’s got “we didn’t try hard to get this just right.” And it works, because the following is just plain fun to watch:

So how about it? Does this video make you want to work with the crazy gals? Definitely. But what about sending your kids to become patients in this office? Lower your eyebrows and listen for a moment. You’re just seeing the tip of the insanity. They’ve probably done worse, much worse than gambled with candy. Children shouldn’t be exposed to irresponsibility of this magnitude, and so the parents should be made aware of this seedier side of pedodontics.

Do you remember the drug-induced rant of David After Dentist? To think that a dental professional would bring into question whether or not this was real life. We don’t need none of that existential nonsense. Pediatric dentists should stick to hiring dried up old biddies that don’t like kids. They may not have a lot of personality, but at least they’ll shine the light where you need it instead of dancing around pretending to be Ke$ha.

So you watch this clip, then you wonder, how many hygienists in job-saturated markets don’t even have the luxury of being able to wrestle with these sorts of ethical dilemmas? They’re just happy to have an income. And if you don’t want to work faster than you should, there’s the door, honey. We’ve got five more hygienists waiting for your position when you leave.

If you must ever make a decision to follow your halo out of a practice like that, remember, there are also dentists who would rather have ethical hygienists than ones who will do whatever they’re told to do regardless of whether or not it’s best for patients.

Just please, promise yourself, you will never, NEVER, consider taking a personal day to go watch a movie, especially NOT the upcoming Twilight one, like DEZiree is pretending to skip out for. Eyes will roll as your credibility sinks beyond all hope.

And a shirtless Robert Pattinson is just one of those things you can’t unsee.

Imagine that you are back about two decades ago, watching one of the most popular sci-fi shows on primetime television:

Theorizing that one could earn over one million per year for a lifetime, Dr. Mike Kesner led an elite group of dentists into the Arizona desert to develop a top secret project, known as QUANTUM LEAP. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr. Kesner prematurely stepped into the Project Accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself working only two days per month, opening multiple practices, and facing a mirror image that often wore dresses. Fortunately, contact with his consultants was made through brainwave transmissions via Art, Debi, Logan, Barbara, and Greg, who appeared in the form of holograms that only Dr. Kesner could see and hear. Trapped within the grip of dentists fearful of change, Dr. Kesner finds himself leaping from dental practice to dental practice, putting things right that once went wrong and hoping each time, that his next leap will be the leap to one billion dollars.

Is Mike Kesner the new Scott Bakula? Yes, but only if you ignore the fact that Bakula later starred in Star Trek: Enterprise and let all his sci-fi potential curdle out into TV irrelevance.

I say this because over the past weekend as I was whisked off to Scottsdale to stay in the va-va chic retro Hotel Valley Ho with the rest of our dental team, the only prior connection that I’d ever made with Dr. Kesner was on the computer. Our practice has been working with Quantum Leap consultants for a few months now, trying to improve our case acceptance rates, increasing our net; you know, having to look at the money side of dentistry. Any time we had a lapse in the schedule, I’d hear a wuh WAH wuh WAH charliebrown adult murmuring from the op across the hall, or I’d pull my own training module up in front of PracticeWorks from the internet and learn tips and techniques from the video and audio recordings that Dr. Kesner has preserved for his clients. We’d all seen him by now, explaining how his systems work to make dentistry less stressful and more profitable.

But there were no special effects, no smoke, no superstar moments, no promises even. When Dr. Kesner and his consultant team hit the stage this weekend they mentioned that it wasn’t even about pearls. You don’t make big changes with pearls. You make changes with systems, and by tapping into the world of the average person, where the bread and the butter of dentistry lies, and fill the needs that patients want you to fill. People have the internet these days, can’t they diagnose their own need for a root canal?

That’s not the point though, because of course you’re going to use your own best judgement when planning treatment. And you should never compromise the care that you provide to people. Bottom line is that as long as your patients know that you’re listening to them, they’re more likely to trust your opinions and to move forward with care. There is a LOT of shady dentistry being reported lately, what with Medicare fraud and other things like the dental chain on the other side of town that seems to aggressively treat decay that your Diagnodent can’t find when patients visit your office for a second opinion.

In honor of Leap Year Day, then, I’m doing this plug for Quantum Leap Success in Dentistry. Not because I’m getting paid by my boss to bring them more business or that anyone put me up to it. I’m giving them a plug because I actually have hope. Hope that Quantum Leap will improve the culture in our practice, and hope that it will preserve the joy I get from the honor of taking care of our dental patients.

And also because at the next meeting Dr. Kesner mentioned that he might be putting on lipstick and stilettos.

Sometimes the best marketing angle is happened upon by accident. Today I just fell in love with the women of this dental practice because they were brave enough to post this “outtakes” video on their practice website. See what I mean:

Want an eye-opener for contrast? Go to the full website and browse through the “real” videos sprinkled along their page tops. I’m sorry, but they’re flat. Where did the real personalities go? Now they just look and sound like any other dental team that’s going all “flaming logo” with their online presence.

This is proof that we all can ditch some of the formality and instead take a side turn down spontaneous lane. If you have that spark of fun in your office, let it show. Big. Bigger. You are awesome, remember?

Except for the occasional antiquated piece of paper that requires a signature that can be penned and sent right back, most of the spam that dribbles out of our office fax machine is a waste of a phone number. And sometimes we’ll even get a fax from someone who is apparently trying to steal our money.

Like this one:

Did you get this fax today, too? Seems like a lot of dentists throughout the country were targeted by some idiot that has never watched TV. Like, duh, don’t you know that there are all sorts of safeguards in this country against scam artists? That sooner or later when you pick up any checks that were mailed to your post office box and then when you deposit one, don’t you think that someone will be watching you?

Okay, so unless the American Dental Association has outsourced its money handling to another part of the country (and they’re not asking for your state and local dues anymore!), it’s pretty safe just to ignore this fax. Or, if you’re feeling creative, you can use it to test the rat-smelling of your business manager, but I wouldn’t recommend the possibility of throwing away over $500 just to reinforce something you probably already know.

Thanks to Dr. Craig Harder for sending me this copy so that I can chuckle at the stupidity of its sender, and possibly warn a few of the less-savvy users of heavy office equipment that the faxes they receive may not always behave themselves.

You have been naughty, fax machine. Time to shut you down.

Jan 19, 2012 UPDATE:

The ADA sent out this eMEMO today:

On January 3, all ADA member dentists with an email address in our database received a special communication from the ADA to alert them about fraudulent invoices that were faxed to many dental offices. As follow-up, we are providing members with an update on what has occurred since our initial communications.

Background

On January 3, a number of member dentists contacted the ADA regarding the fraudulent invoices, prompting the Association to distribute an alert that afternoon to member and nonmember dentists, leadership and staff at state and local dental societies, recognized specialty organizations and other organizations and individuals within the dental community. A standby statement was also prepared for the media.

The alert stated that the ADA does not use fax communications to collect membership dues, and that the ADA does not sell, rent or publish in any way the fax numbers of current or former member dentists in our database. Additionally, all dues invoices for tripartite members are mailed from state or local dental societies, and invoices for other ADA “direct” membership categories are sent by mail as well.

The fraudulent fax appeared to be a standard invoice that asked the recipient to send a $575 payment to the American Dental Association/ADA Association, Membership Processing Dept., P.O. Box 1403, Brockton, MA 02303-1483.

Dentists whose offices were in receipt of a fax as described above were advised to not respond or send payment to the P.O. box.

In a statement from ADA Executive Director Dr. Kathleen O’Loughlin, “Getting the word out and taking steps to protect our members have been our top priorities,” adding that there was no breach of ADA information or member data.

Update on actions by the ADA
The ADA has continued to work closely with U.S. Postal Service authorities. The following is a brief summary of what has occurred to protect our members:

On Jan. 5, within 48 hours of hearing about this issue, the ADA filed a civil action in the Boston federal court that issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring that any mail sent to the P.O. box to be held by the U.S. Postal Service and not made available to the individual renting the P.O. box.

On January 17, the TRO issued previously was converted into a preliminary injunction, and the file has been unsealed.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is considering instituting an investigation, and has also referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston for possible criminal prosecution.

What to do if you received one of the faxed invoices
Do not send a payment. Additionally, if you still have a copy of what you believe may be a fraudulent invoice, please forward it to Tom Elliott, deputy chief legal counsel, by email at “[email protected]” or by fax to 312.440.2562, along with your name and ADA number.

What to do if you sent a payment to the P.O. box
So far the Post Office in Brockton has received more than 170 pieces of mail to the P.O. box. It is hoped that the action the ADA took to seal the post office box occurred before any checks were received, as the box was empty when it was sealed on January 5.

•As a precaution, if your office has sent a check to the P.O. box, we encourage you to “stop payment” on the check. While there is normally a small cost associated with this, there is also the comfort of knowing your check cannot be cashed.
•We also ask that you contact the ADA Member Service Center at 800.621.8099. ADA staff is assembling a list of dentists known to have sent checks so we can communicate with and reconcile records with the U.S. Post Office. You will be asked to complete a release form that will allow us to verify if the P.O. box has received a check from you. Additionally, we are told the U.S. Postal Service plans to communicate directly with those individuals who have sent mail to the P.O. box.

Dentists are urged to share this information with all staff on their dental team and direct further questions or concerns to the ADA Member Service Center at 800.621.8099.

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DentalBuzz explores rising trends in dentistry with its own slant. The speed at which new products and ideas enter the dental field can often outpace our ability to understand just exactly the direction in which we are heading. But somehow, by being a little less serious about dentistry and dental care, we might get closer to making sense of it all.

So yeah, a tongue-in-cheek pun would fit really nicely here, but that would be in bad taste. Never mind, it just happened anyways. Stop reading sidebars already and click on some content instead.

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